5th Annual Macys Spelling Bee #MacysBee

On Saturday, September 15th, the cellist, ladybug and I headed to Macy’s in Old Orchard mall to watch as 50 children in the 8-11 age bracket competed in their 5th annual spelling bee.

The cellist wanted to participate but learned that all of those wishes to be older came with a price!

The spelling bee started with a sign up at noon which allowed the first 50 participants fitting the criteria to be entered into the contest. No trying out before the judges, no pre-spelling bees, no sweat!

The first three rounds were pretty breezy, with the first child being buzzed out in the third round. It was definitely bittersweet for the contestant as they walked over to their mom and consoled themselves. I can honestly say that standing in front of a crowd of random people, spelling words would definitely frighten me. Of course as each round went higher, the difficulty of the words increased. There were high stakes as well. An iPad, Macy’s gift card, Kaplan tutoring, a gift certificate from Scholastic and more.

The contestants who didn’t win any of these prizes were given snazzy Macy’s backpacks and a photo taken in front of a Macy’s step and repeat (you know, those signs that you see all the celebs standing in front of when they are at a fundraising function?) the more you know!

Radio Disney was also on hand to do a bit of entertaining and offering of prizes to those children either too young or too old to participate. They were also promoting their NBT (Next Big Thing – as I was told by an exasperated seven year old.) The cellist and the ladybug were on a roll with the theme song game that they played. Although, the cellist got stuck on “That’s So Raven,” while yours truly called it out in good ol’ embarrassing mom fashion. I aim to please.

There were three judges. One to call out the word to spell. One to give a definition, and one to use it in a sentence. Believe me when I tell you that these children worked every single judge for their money. It was pretty epic.

There are still more Macy’s Spelling Bees happening around the US and you can find out where, by going to www.macys.com and searching for the spelling bee.

Have you ever entered a spelling bee? How did that work out for you? You can search on twitter under #macysbee to check out the live tweets (don’t worry, no words were given away!)

Disclosure: I am a member of the Everywhere Society and Everywhere provided me with compensation for this post about Macy’s Spelling Bee. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own.

I'm Mrs. Houseful. Or Natasha if you're not into nicknames! I'm a married mom of four. I love chatting it up with so many of you all. I love traveling, sewing, cooking, and trying new things. I also collect Box Tops For Education, and refer to myself as the crazy Box Tops Lady. Send me yours if you don't collect for your children! You need to contact me? Send me an email! natasha@housefulofnicholes.com